Courses
Artificial Intelligence in Games
Understand the differences between traditional AI and AI applied to game development, where other factors such as playability are more relevant that the oponent’s intelligence level. Be familiar with the practical problems when developing AI for video games, and with the several techniques applied in comercial video games. Know how to design and build an AI system for a video game independently of its genre (action, sport, strategy, narrative).
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
To acquire general notions about agents and multi-agent systems; knowing how to identify and classify agents and environments, according to different properties. Knowing how to develop complex systems and systems from different application areas, using an agent-oriented methodology. Knowing how to define a society of agents in order to solve a specific problem. Being able to design agents with reactive, deliberative and hybrid architectures. Being able to create societies of agents that communicate, in a practical way, using suitable languages and platforms.
Computer Graphics for Games
This course covers both theory and practice of game engine software development. It delves into the different engine subsystems including, but not limited to, rendering, character animation, and physics, and details the articulation required to support gameplay development. By the end of this course, students should understand how modern game engines work, and be able to design and develop their own game engines.
Game Design
This course grants the students the opportunity to develop their skills on experience design and prototyping for games. The learning process is sustained in the discussion of what is a game, what are its components and what is its relation to the players (having in mind their differences). It is expected that the student develop design documents and prototypes to support his/her work on the course.
Game Development Methodology
Present a vision of the different methodologies and technologies involved in the development of digital games discussing the main features and issues in each one. Grant students with conceptual tools and techniques to develop user interfaces for games with special emphasis on player controls. Develop the ability to reflect and test the player experience and gameplay. Discuss the role of conceptual modelling and user testing. Highlight the importance to take a user centred approach in the exploration of the player experience.
Multimedia Content Production
Know the different types of multimédia information and how to manipulate them to poduce multimedia content. To understand the technological constraints that affect Production. To understand critical factors affect the success of a production, namely in aspects such as capture, encoding, processing and visualization of the different media. To know the different kinds of available authoring tools. To create Multimedia contents; To identify the different contexts in which multimedia can be consumed, with emphasys on online and network issues (evaluate bandwidth, latency, synchronization, etc.) and mobile devices. Introduce some advanged multimedia usages such as procedural modelling, generative art augmented reality. Apply efficient methods of multimedia content retrieval.
Thesis
Virtual Reality Football Videogame - A Social Experience
Technology is in constant evolution, and the gaming industry is not an exception. The latest developments have been in the Virtual Reality (VR) field, with powerful hardware being developed and release by some of the world’s biggest companies, but big gaming studios have not been following the same path. VR games have the potential to take the gaming level one step forward by putting the player in the game’s virtual world and creating endless possibilities to be explored by developers’ creativity. However, in VR users can feel isolated from the people and the world around them, so shared VR experiences play an important role in the success of VR. In order to better understand the inherent challenges of the creation of VR content, we propose the development of a VR game. This game should be played by two people, stressing the need of exploring VR as a way of interaction and communication between people, instead of delivering isolated experiences. It consists in a football game with the players facing each other. It is not supposed to be a game on which players run through the pitch; instead they are in their respective goal, kicking the ball in order to score on the opposite goal, and trying to defend the other player’s kicks. By making this game a shared experience, we intend to create and strengthen ties between people through a method so propitious to this, which is simply having fun with another person.
Modelling Progression in Video Games
Games of today are extremely dependent on procedurally generated content to engage players in replaying a game. Most endless-running platformer games tend to generate their content based solely on the duration of the current playthrough, ignoring completely the skill of the player. In order to progress, the player must adapt itself to the game, instead of the game to the player. We propose a model for progression in video games, using the level of mastery of the player when using the different mechanics and overcoming the different challenges provided by the game. The model is used to determine which features (mechanics, challenges) will be presented next to the player in order to maintain the player engaged and in flow. In this dissertation, we implement this model for an endless-running platform game. A custom editor was developed to allow for level designers to specify their own game logic and the rules for guiding the progression of the game as the mastery of the player evolves. The different game features are organised in a graph with conditional transitions specifying the threshold for the level of mastery needed to enable other features down the graph. As the skill of the player evolves, the game will adapt itself in providing features of the appropriate skill level, with the final objective of increasing the level of replayability, fun and engagement thanks to the constant adaption of the game to the skill of the player.